An Amarillo woman is suing a rent-to-own store for gross negligence, claiming the store leased her furniture infested with bedbugs, 108th District Court records released Tuesday show.

On Sept. 14, 2012, Angelia Gill purchased furniture from the Rent-A-Center store at 2100 S. Georgia St., and she and her family fdiscovered red marks on their bodies the day after the furniture was delivered to their home, according to the lawsuit filed by Amarillo attorney Blair Saylor Oscarsson.

Gill treated red marks and itching with over-the-counter medication until her 4-year-old child developed a large mark on her back and Gill noticed a mark on her face, the lawsuit said.Gill and the child received treatment for rashes at a hospital before a friend suggested Gill check her furniture for bedbugs, according to the suit.

“Mrs. Gill removed the couch cushions and, to her dismay and disgust, found it crawling with bedbugs,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit claims Rent-A-Center promised to have the home exterminated but never followed through with that promise. Gill eventually paid to have the house de-loused, the lawsuit said.

Gill and her family suffer from lasting marks and scars on their bodies from bedbug bites, the lawsuit said.

“(The children) could not sleep soundly for months because of fear that bedbugs were crawling on them during the night,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit accuses Rent-A-Center of violating the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and accuses the store of neglecting to consider the risk involved in selling the furniture, claiming Rent-A-Center “was selling bedbug-infested furniture all over Texas and should have been on notice that there was a problem.”

Oscarsson cited by phone a July 2011 Houston television news report from KCRA-TV that detailed a family who planned to sue Rent-A-Center over a similar infestation. A May 2012 Houston Chronicle article details a similar lawsuit against the company.

Oscarsson said she and her client have been trying to reach a settlement with the company for the past year, and said she will prove the suit’s claims in court.

Attempts to reach Rent-A-Center representatives for comment were not immediately successful Tuesday morning.